Brisbane Road

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Brisbane Road
Full name	Matchroom Stadium, Brisbane Road
Location	Leyton, London, England
Built	19??
Opened	1937
Owner	Land leased by Waltham Forest Council
Tenants	Leyton Orient F.C.
Capacity	9,271 (all seated)
Field dimensions	110 x 76 yards

Brisbane Road, currently referred to as the Matchroom Stadium for sponsorship purposes and originally known as Osborne Road, is a football stadium in Brisbane Road, Leyton, east London, England.

It is currently used for football matches and has been the home ground of Leyton Orient F.C. since 1937, prior to which it was the home of amateur football team Leyton FC, who moved to the Hare and Hounds ground. The highest attendance at the ground was 34,345 for the visit of West Ham United in the 1964 FA Cup. It has hosted a number of England U-16 and England women’s team in the past. In 2008, it hosted the women’s League Cup final. It is also home of the Tottenham Hotspur F.C. reserves.

Brisbane Road has seen several developments in its history, but due to the Second World War the first major improvement was the levelling of a grass bank and crash barrier instalation in 1949. The terracing behind the goals was improved again in 1952, 1959 and 1960. In 1956 a small seated stand was dismantled and replaced with a stand from the decrepit Mitchum Stadium, which held 2,600 fans. In 1962, with Leyton Orient gaining promotion to the First Division, another wing was added to the main stand making the seating total 3,500. In 1978 the West Stand was converted into all-seating. In 1996 the terracing at the southern end of the ground was demolished, and used as a car park while Lottery funding to build a stand was (unsuccessfully) sought. The South Stand was eventually built in 1999, and at the same time the North Terrace was upgraded.

Full details regarding the re-development of the West Stand and building of the North Stand are in the main Leyton Orient article. As of August 2007, the ground is once again four-sided, with the North Stand recently opened as the Family Stand, while away supporters remain seated in the southern end of the East Stand. The West Stand has been recently reconstructed, housing the club offices and a second shop as well as adding 2,872 seats to the ground's capacity. The East Stand is the oldest part of the ground and there are future plans for a 4000 seater stand to replace the current one; however these are in very tentative stages. The capacity of each stand is as follows:

East Stand North: 2,133 (also 15 disabled supporters + 15 helpers)
East Stand South (away): 1,459 (also 7 disabled supporters + 7 helpers)
South Stand: 1,336
West Stand: 2,872 (also 23 disabled supporters + 23 helpers)
North Family Stand: 1,351 (includes provision for disabled supporters)

It is named after Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn's sports promotion company, Matchroom Sport, prior to which it was officially the Leyton Stadium, though fans still refer to it as Brisbane Road. The club has registered an interest into moving into the Olympic Stadium following the 2012 Olympics as this will have a capacity of about 25,000; however, the club's average attendance of about 5,000 means that this is in no way a probable move. Brisbane Road is in very close proximity to both the Olympic Park and also Hackney Marshes.